Supporting Multilingual Language Development at Preschool: Evaluating the Influence of Language Input from Teachers

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

In an increasingly diverse society, many preschoolers speak home/heritage languages that are not the majority language of society. The language environment at preschool is particularly important to these children, as it might be their main source of high-quality majority-language input. It is, therefore, vital to determine how preschool teachers can best support their majority language development (Hutchinson, 2018). However, disproportional support to the majority language may be detrimental to the maintenance of the children’s home/heritage languages. Hence, for these children to become truly multilingual, it is also important that they receive appropriate input to maintain their home/heritage languages (Papastefanou et al., 2019). In light of the vast amount of studies focusing on monolingual children (e.g., Huttenlocher et al., 2002), there is comparatively little research on the influence of preschool language input on multilingual children’s language development. This symposium will discuss the influence of teacher talk and language practices on multilingual preschoolers’ language development. The first talk will report an observational study on how linguistic features of teacher talk influence majority-language development in preschoolers learning it as an additional language. The second talk will discuss how teachers’ use of preschoolers’ home language and codeswitching in whole-classroom and small-group activities shape dual-language-learning preschoolers’ language use. The third talk will present data from a language exposure program for bilingual preschools focused on maintaining children’s heritage language. Together, these presentations will shed light on how language input and practices impact young children’s multilingual development and inform educators how best to foster preschoolers’ multilingual development.

Sub Unit

• Language, Communication

Chair

• Kin Chung Jacky Chan, Lancaster University

Discussant

• Erika Hoff, Florida Atlantic University

Individual Presentations

• Language Input and Preschoolers’ Language Development: Naturalistic Observation of Teacher Talk Addressing Monolinguals and Multilinguals - Presenting Author: Kin Chung Jacky Chan, Lancaster University; Non-Presenting Author: Padraic Monaghan, Lancaster University; Non-Presenting Author: Marije Michel, University of Groningen

• Fostering Dual Language Learners’ Classroom Conversations: Home Language Use and Codeswitching across Instructional Contexts - Presenting Author: Sarah Surrain, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie Michelle Curenton, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Cecilia Jarquin Tapia, Boston University

• Little Multilingual Minds: A Heritage-Language Learning Program for Early Childhood - Presenting Author: Paola Escudero, Western Sydney University; Non-Presenting Author: Gloria Pino Escobar, Western Sydney University; Non-Presenting Author: Myra Luinge, Western Sydney University; Non-Presenting Author: John Hajek, University of Melbourne; Non-Presenting Author: Gillian Wigglesworth, University of Melbourne